Mislabeled, Negative Extremism, and Servitude
Misused People Gifts – Part 3
It’s our goal to convey the best concepts and best ideas as it relates to this idea that God has given us about people-groups and peoples-gifts. To do this justice requires us to look at not only the benefits that a group’s gift brings, but what happens when a particular group’s gifts are abused and misused. What does that look like? In this installment, we’re speaking specifically of the “southward people-group.” That would be people who are primarily in the geographic area of the Middle East, all the way down to the southernmost tip of the continent of Africa.
What’s interesting today about this southward people-group is most in society (to be politically correct) would classify these folks as “people of color.” For this lesson, I need to make a little distinction about that phrase. When we think about this geographic region, obviously we think about “black” people or people who we have classified as “black.” That is not the same as being African-American. That’s a terminology used for people in the United States, but nonetheless, “people of color” can be a broader spectrum of God’s people. For our study today, I’m specifically speaking of people in the southward people-group, who are primarily “people of color,” of African descent. Please keep this distinction in mind. These are God’s people that He created to inhabit or who migrated to this geographic region, south of the center of civilization, which represents Middle Eastern areas and the entire continent of Africa.
As a reminder, all people-groups offer dynamic, great, and globally enhancing gifts. Don’t miss this, we’ve talked about that in previous installments. The problem is that when these gifts, as large, as great, and as impactful as they are, they get misused. This misuse or abuse as well creates what’s called a polar-opposite effect, mostly harm than good. We have three such areas of misuse and abuse to discuss today. Keep in mind that these are in any way a complete list, but food for your thoughts. When a gift gets misused, it can damage our society, the planet, and people around us. It can create devastation as well as disaster for generations to come. Therefore, we must talk a little about it so that 1) we can dispel it, and 2) we know what we’re looking for as a result. When we are able to identify misuse and abuse, we are then able to make a dent in correcting the damages made in such an instance.
Mislabeled
As I mentioned earlier regarding “people of color” versus “black,” this southward people-groups is the victim of much mislabeling. Let me explain with a story about Ann, a friend of ours. Ann is what we would call a “white” African, a person in Africa, who is of European descent. Ann is more African than Pamela and I are, being that we are African-American. In fact, Ann was born, raised, grew up, and has the culture of the wonderful people in South Africa. She has a perspective about the world that’s quite unique and quite different than that of Pamela and me. She has a more southward people-group perspective. Her background being African or in this southward people-group is a whole lot different. Actually, it’s a whole lot broader than what one could imagine. Her influences are southward in nature while ours has a northward influence for the most part. One of the things we noticed is when you’re part of this people-group, but don’t have the physical attributes of a person of color, you can be misused and abused. Assumptions are made that you are not a part of the group you most identify with and the reverse is true.
Generally it’s easy for the southward people-group to be identified because this group has so much color, but let’s not limit it to color. Unlike Ann, it is true that the majority of this people-group has color and thus creates an automatic identifier which creates division amongst people. Nonetheless, Ann loves the color of her people-group. In fact, it’s amazing to hear her speak about it because it’s so contradictory to what we know in other areas of the world. My point is this, that thought alone is a symptom of misuse and abuse. When we view a person’s physical attributes in a negative light, that’s abuse. Wherein Ann’s perspective, it was a positive thing. She talked about it with such reverence, admiration, esteem, and even attraction. She thinks of it as a wonderful attribute where in other areas it’s easy to overlook it, and thinks of it as a negative attribute. That’s misuse and abuse.
Negative Extremism
Southward people can be a bit over the top, both in a good way and unfortunately in a bad way. That’s just the nature of having a gift to be extreme. That being the case, everything this group of southward people does has an extreme touch on it. For example, the way this group dresses is extreme and the number of languages in this group is extreme.This group is tribal as well in ways no other groups have smaller groups within the larger group. The resources that they have available are extreme. The southward people-group has extreme belief systems.They go all in.
Have you ever gotten on a plane and you noticed someone of the southward-group of people and had that thought that she or he might blow up the plane? The reason that’s even a thought is due to two ideals: 1) this group is extreme, and 2) this is what happens when an extreme person is misused and abused. The results are extreme. Even when this group is discussed in Scripture, it talks about the wars fought over religious beliefs. That’s still a symptom of what’s happening today. This group’s religious beliefs create a lot of conflict, even global and intercontinental conflicts.
This trait even surfaces in southward people who live in America. When you see those of the southward people-group, in this case black people, what you might notice is the conflicts over such things like clothing, respect, sports, etc. When misused and abused, internal conflicts within the group arise and even create divisions within the people-group. A global view shows fighting amongst tribes, amongst cultures, and amongst religious sects. It’s not hard to think of other acts and ways in which this southward people-group demonstrates negative extremism as a result of abuse and misuse.
Servitude
Here are words that we all know and for the most part find hard to hear and swallow: enslavement, segregation, and slavery. These words are the extreme version of another word, servitude. The southward people-group is a people of service and when misused other groups will take advantage and the former words arise.
If you are like me you probably have wondered why this people-group is the target of such misuse. Here’s something I discovered while researching that might enlighten you. This people-group is resilient. In fact, when you give them an assignment, it’s done with greater intensity, greater ability. Extreme.
There’s a famous historical account found in the Bible that talks about the enslaved Israelites, people of color, that can help future explain. They were enslaved by the Egyptians, their own people-group. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, during Moses’ time, decided not to give them the supplies needed to make bricks for building. At the same time, this group of people would still be required to have the same output that they did when the resources and supplies were provided. Needless to say, the enslaved Israelites still met their quotas. No matter what the circumstances, they were still able to get the job done. Their gift to be able to serve, continues to show up even in the misuse and abuse of it.
In American history enslaved southward people not only were required to produce a desired output of labor, but they would also create tools and techniques to make the process easier. In the midst of being misused, they would come up with all these different techniques, tools, and inventions that would advance the human race.
So, why the abuse?
Someone asked me, so then why the abuse? Well we have to apply this to all people groups to truly understand. Abuse comes as a result of the misuse of a person, place, thing, or whatever. Whenever you don’t understand the reason for something, even a person, the result is that you treat them in a way that was never intended. For example, we’re all used by employers and when we’re misused, we call it employee-abuse, so to speak. In that line of thinking, that’s what happens with people-groups.
When the gifts or skills are not understood, it results in others who are benefiting from such gifts to inevitably abuse it and at times intentionally. Now for what makes these three items that I mentioned above so devastating. When you have internal misuse and abuse in the southward people-group that means the people will never be able to stand in unity. For a household, group of people, or organization that is divided, they have no way to stand. The group in this case will actually destroy itself. Therefore, misuse and abuse is so devastating, because it keeps your group from being the best that it can. Society at large, the globe can even suffer because there are so many skills and talents, events, in creation that could come out of the southward group, but division is holding those things back.
Lastly, the answer to this is obviously to respect, to stand with, to unify, to honor, and to appropriately use the gifts of the people around us. The problem we face is one that Jesus mentioned. “By this all people would know that you are my disciples [or people], if you love one another.” [1] I like that phrase because the answer to it is love. If I treat any group of people with love that means I treat them in the way that God will treat them. God is a promoter. He is a builder. He is an influence. He is a forgiver. He is our savior. He is our Lord. He is a provider. All of these attributes that we know of God when used towards people will result in the advancement of civilization to the next level.
Ancient Scripture says that we all have a part in the body. Each part is there to do its function. [2] When it is abused and misused that function goes lacking. Thus, the whole body will suffer. Therefore as a global community, when we misuse and abuse people and a people-group, the only person who suffers is all of us.
Question: How can I do my part? What role do I have to play in making sure that I’m not slowing down the progress of humanity altogether?
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[1] John 13:2 NLT, Bible.com, accessed June 8, 2023, https://www.bible.com/bible/116/JHN.13.2.NLT
[2] 1 Corinthians 12:27 NLT, Bible.com, accessed June 8, 2023, https://www.bible.com/bible/116/1CO.12.27.NLT
All Scripture references used by permission, see our Scripture copyrights.
